So do you want us to do the thought questions too???


That and everything else is a little much, don't you think????

Image Analysis
I couldn't copy and paste the pictures either.


Abandoned Oklahoma Farmstead
This picture is of a farm that was abandoned in the 1930's due to dust storms that struck across the lower mid western states. The people who  lived there probably left so that they could plant new crops somewhere else, where dust wouldn't soil them. It was the farmers who were hit the hardest, and they didn't want to financially be poor, or lose there homes because of debt.

African American Family on the Road
The picture is of an African American family who looked like they were moving from the South to the North, not the midwest because such terrible dust storms were going on. The caption says that it was pre- WWI, so it most likely didn't have anything to do with the Depression yet, However, the KKK became its strongest around this point in time so they were probably leaving to get away from that terrible group, so the parents could make a better life for their children.

Arkies on the Road
This is a picture of a woman who looks to be cooking something on a table that comes out of the back of her camper. She seems to be on the road, and is probably preparing a meal for her and her family. It is a picture that was taken during the depression, so she is probably leaving to find a better economic opportunity and so that either her or her husband can find new jobs. Either that or bad dust storms ruined their crops and they had to start over.

Children with Sign
This is a picture of two small children holding a Hoover Poor sign. They are holding it because President Hoover was blamed for the crash of 1929 and the resulting depression. The children seem to be on the road, so their parents probably could no longer find work or afford the house they were living in, so when they set up camp they called it the 'poor farm'.

Despair in the Texas Panhandle
This is a picture of a woman standing in a field somewhere in California. She is with her family on the move because of the Depression. She and her family are probably looking for a new place to live where they can find a job and support their family.

Depression Era Breadlines
This picture shows a breadline with thousands of people in it. Once the depression hit, the people who could no longer afford houses and whom lost their jobs would go in these breadlines to get food, and some even a shelter so that they could survive. Millions of people relied on shelters during this sad time.

Migrant Mother
This is a picture of a woman with two small children. She seems to be inside a tent of some sort, and the little boys are leaning on their mother. During this time, when people were migrating to find better opportunities, they had a difficult time supporting their families. The little boys are leaning or, or relying on their mother who also seems helpless because there is little food or shelter she could offer her children once the Depression hit.

Family in a Dust Storm
This is a picture of a father and a son and two cars during 1936 in a dust storm in Oklahoma. During this time, people migrated from their homes so that they could plant their crops somewhere else, because once a dust storm hit they would be soiled. It seems as though one of the cars is stuck, so the other person got out of his to help the other, even though there were clouds of dust affecting him.

FDR with Leg Braces
FDR believed that if people thought he had a handicap, they would think he was less of a person, so when he went out he always had a companion to rely on. Since America had been going through such rough times after the Depression, they probably felt that they needed a strong president who would be competent enough to fix things. So if they saw that their new leader, their president was disabled, he would have a hard time recontructing their country.

John Steinback
THis is a picture of a very influential man during the Great Depression era, and after. He had written a book about the hard times Americans went through during the Depression so he could illustrate and record the things that the US faced. It talks about the millions of people who were affected by this incident. The picture however, shows a strong man who looks very unaffected by the thngs that supposedly went on, and he himself probably didn't have to worry about having a job during this time.

John Steinbeck:  

John Steinbeck was the author of not only The Grapes of Wrath but also of Of Mice and Men. These two widely acclaimed novels were both set in the time period of the Great Depression. According to the caption The Grapes of Wrath gives people the best insight into what happened during the Great Depression and its effect on the American public. This picture shows him as someone of decent means and not necessarily of someone who really suffered during the Great Depression like many of the characters in his novels.

Modern Electric Range:

Before electricity, stoves were wood burning and it required a lot of maintenance and prep time to be able to use them. Before and during the Depression when electricity was made more readily available so were things that used electricity. A great example is the electric range stove. It really helped to cut down on time women, and sometimes even men, spent cooking and preparing meals. The picture is basically showing an electric range stove in a modest kitchen.

Seattle, WA, Shantytown:

During the Great Depression shantytowns popped up in many major cities. They were basically small villages of huts and shanties made up of old cardboard boxes, scrap metal, and other basic materials that homeless people could find lying around. Some of the residents of these shantytowns called them Hoovervilles after Herbert Hoover, whom many people blamed for the Great Depression. This picture is of a particular shantytown in Seattle, Washington. It looks like many of the other shantytowns that were prevalent during this time period.

Family in a Dust Storm:

Dust storms were really prevalent in the mid-west during the 1930s. There had been a great drought during the same time period as the Great Depression and it only added to the economic turmoil by affecting the farming and agricultural community. The region that these dust storms primarily occurred in was eventually called the Dust Bowl due to the magnitude and number of storms that occurred there. This picture is of a family with their two cars while stranded in a dust storm in 1936.
 
Abandoned Oklahoma Farmstead, 1937:

Many people that lived in the Mid-west left their farms during the droughts in the 1930s, which happened to coincide with the Great Depression. Many of these farms were located in the Dust Bowl and during the dust storms farmers lost nearly everything. They were forced to move to other areas in search of work, food, an income, anything that was better than what they left behind. This picture shows just how bad some of these dust storms were. You can see the piles of dust that almost cover everything.

Depression Era Breadline:

So many people were displaced from their homes and from their jobs during the Great Depression. It left many people and families without anything, including food. To try and help those who were impacted the greatest the government set up places where the poor and homeless could go and try and get something to eat. They nearly always had to wait in enormous lines in order to have the opportunity to get some type of food. This picture depicts just how long these lines actually were. It just shows you how many people the Depression actually impacted.

Franklin Roosevelt, 1937:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president after Herbert Hoover and during the economic turmoil thats known as the Great Depression. A lot of people didnt even know that he had polio or that it had put him in a wheelchair. This picture especially shows how many photographers didnt want to flaunt the fact that he was disabled.

Mexican Workers and Their Cars:

Cars became very popular during the 19^th century in America. A lot of American families were now able to own cars, rather than in Europe and other nations where only the rich, powerful, and elite owned any sort of automobile. The caption included with this picture reiterates this and also mentions that a lot of foreigners thought it was a bit of a commodity to see a Mexican immigrant owning and driving an automobile.

Children with "Hoover's Poor Farm" Sign:

Nearly all Americans blamed Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression. Even years after the stock market crash, people who were affected by it still blamed Hoover for all of the things that had happened to them. People posted signs everywhere and even named the shantytowns that many homeless lived in Hoovervilles.  This picture is an extreme example of how much people despised him; they even used their kids to show everyone how they felt.

Migrant Mother:

Dorothea Lange was famous for her photos portraying the trials and tribulations of the Great Depression. Her most famous photograph Migrant Mother was highlighted here. The picture is one of the most ultimate representations of the kind of lives those displaced by the Depression had to live. It is showing a disparaged mother with her two small children. She has a more worried look on her face which is completely normal for the time, since many people werent even sure when they would be able to eat next.

"World's Highest Standard of Living" Billboard

            This picture is emphasizing that America has the highest standard of living.  However this poster seemed to be more ironic as around this time many people were not doing so well financially because in 1937 there had been an economic collapse and many jobs, of what few there were, were low-wage jobs.  Also around this time there were many acts being passed and administration being created to bring the country out of it own financial ruin and to get people back on their feet such as National Housing Act and Farm Security Administration, both made in 1937.

 

Social Security Act Poster

            This poster is promoting the Social Security Act to try and gain support from the general public because at this time many people did not believe it could work.  The reason for this was the exclusion of many different parties such as farm laborers and married women wage earners and it also did not have health insurance included in it.  When the Act was signed in 1935 by President Roosevelt the previous year had just seen unemployment peak but in this year many other kinds of reforms were created such as the National Labor Relations Act and the Works Progress Administration along with the beginning of the Second New Deal.

 

Seattle, WA, Shantytown

            During the 30s, as many people lost their jobs or a drastic cut in their pay, the most poor had to live in places called shantytowns which were dwellings places made of scrap and junk.  These places began to be called Hoovervilles to try and place the blame on President Hoover for the economic trouble of the U.S.  This particular picture shows how bad the conditions were that so many people had nothing else due to unemployment which reached its apex in 1934. 

 

Old Reliable!, 1938   

            Roosevelt here is shown as believing that the rabbit of deficit spending was the magical panacea of Depression, of which he was criticized for doing.  He had created to CWA and later the PWA to help stimulate the economy by building and rebuilding structures such as schools and low-cost housing through investment of government funds.

 

"PWA In Action" Poster

            The PWA was established in 1933 to replace the CWA for President Roosevelt for fear it was costing too much. Also in this year was passed the 21^st amendment that repealed the 18^th amendment banning alcohol and the Home Owners Loan Corporation which, like the PWA, used Federal money to help stimulate the economy by making over $3 billion in low-interst loans and saving over a million homes from foreclosure.

 

Modern ElectricRange, 1934

            Many important new innovations and inventions were either made or mass-produced in the 20s which everyone knew about.  However in the 30s these things now became luxuries which were fast becoming unavailable to the general populace due to the Great Depression.  This electric range was one of these things.  Many people could not afford either electricity, the machines themselves, or both in many cases.

John Steinbeck

            In 1939 John Steinbeck wrote his famous The Grapes of Wrath book which depicted the suffering and plight of the impoverished and the general feeling of hopelessness many people had in America in the 30s.  In this same year the U.S. was starting to really turn around and make progress towards recovery and an example of it doing so was the Fair Labor Standards Act which raised minimum wage around the country and set a maximum number of hours a person could work before overtime kicked in.

Franklin Roosevelt, 1937

            Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1932 for his proposition of a New Deal.  He planned to use the governments money to help the poor and believed in economic planning, more so than Hoover.  His first New Deal began in 1933 and ended in 1935 and mainly focused on recovery and relief from the depression.  The Second New Deal focused primarily on social reform and justice.

 

Evicting the Bonus Army

            As problems intensified in the 30s many veterans wanted help from the government.  These veterans proposed, and demanded, that they get paid their war bonuses from War World I.  Congress decided to comply but only allowed that they be given 50% of what they were owed, since they werent even supposed to get their bonuses until 1945.  However this did not satisfy these veterans who were struggling just as much as the next person and decided to get fight for the other 50%.  They did not get this as it was defeated in the Senate and many just left, after they had marched all the way to Washington.  Some stayed and were eventually forcibly removed by soldiers by order of Hoover and this only served to stain his image along with breadlines and Hooverville.

 

  CCC Worker, 1938

            The Civilian Conservation Corps was a program created as a result from the New Deal of FDR.  This program was very popular and successful as it took men 17 and older and put them to work on reforestation and reconstruction all through out the country.  This allowed them to earn $5 of spending money for themselves and $25 for their family back home a month.  Thihs was, however, was not too popular among women as it took all the good men away from home and thus they could not look for real jobs and brides.

 

Kelby

Image Analysis

2/11/08

 

1.  Abandoned Oklahoma Farmstead, 1937

Farmers suffered greatly in the Depression.  The demand for farm products had reduced due to a failing economy and also due to less trade with European nations after World War I.  Not only did the farmers have difficulty meeting their loan payments for new machinery but they also had elements of nature to deal with.  In 1930 there was below normal rainfall which caused a drought which led to severe dust storms.  These conditions ruined the soil for planting and many farmers fled their damaged farms.

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Arkies On The Road

During the Depression many people lost their land and their homes so they packed all of their belongings into a truck and traveled from place to place setting up camp as they went searching for work and a way to make some money in order to survive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Depression Breadlines in New York City, 1932

During the Depression many people were unemployed and had no money to buy food.  In the absence of Government relief programs free food was given out with private funds in some urban centers to large numbers of unemployed people.  The food was mainly soup and bread.

 

 

 

 

4.  Eleanor Roosevelt Visiting WPA Nursery

 

Eleanor Roosevelt was a very active First Lady.  She traveled about the Country supporting the programs established by the New Deal.  The WPA or Works Progressive Administration was authorized by Congress in 1935 to attempt to deal with the high unemployment rate in the U.S. Eleanor is visiting a nursery that is operated by WPA workers.

 

 

5.  Family in a Dust Storm

In the 1930s the Great Plains experienced severe drought and dust storms. The below average rainfall and high winds turned the area into a dust bowl.  Millions of topsoil was removed due to these weather conditions leaving the farmers with land that was useless for planting.  The dust was blowing around so strong that the people had to wear cloths over their faces to protect their mouth, nose and eyes.  People moved from the area to get away from these horrible conditions.

 

 

 

 

6. CCC Worker, 1938

The CCC was a very successful and popular New Deal program.  It put unemployed men and women to work restoring forests, completing park and road construction and building recreation facilities.  It was mainly for young unemployed men.  The men lived in work camps that were run by the military.  It was a very successful program. We could use something like that for some of the young unemployed men today.

 

 

7. FDR with Leg Braces

Franklin D Roosevelt contracted polio as an adult and although he regained his health he was never able to walk again without help.  His advisors usually had him seated in pictures for the public so that they could not see his disability.  When he was up and walking he usually depended on holding onto someone near him for support and to hid is disability.  He never made his disability public and most Americans were not aware of his disability until after his death.  He hid his disability because to some people it was a sign of weakness or a sign of possibly some other disability such as mental disability.  This is sad because he should have been able to function in his role as president without hiding his disability.  But even today Im not sure that the American public would not see it as a sign of weakness.

 

 

 

8. Seattle, WA, Shantytown

During the Depression many people who were unemployed also lost their houses.  In order to have a place to live settlements of poor people came together and built dwellings made of scrap wood, scrap metal or plastics.  These dwellings were poorly built and did not comply with building code or sanitation codes.  Many of the shantytowns were called Hoovervilles, after President Herbert Hoover because the people blamed him for the poor economic condition of the country.  This was a very sad time for all involved.

 

 

9. Social Security Act Poster

This is a poster telling people to sign up for their social security number.  The Social Security Act was passed in 1935 under the leadership of Roosevelt.  This act provided for money for old age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accident, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind and the physically handicapped. There was a lot of opposition to the law but the Social Security Act was very positive for the country because it was to protect the people from the damaging effects of bad times in life.

 

 

10. John Baer, We Demand a New Deal 1931

This political cartoon shows workers, farmers, honest businessmen demanding a new deal.  This became FDRs campaign promise and slogan.  The New Deal was a phrase used to describe program initiatives introduced by FDR between 1933 and 1938 to give relief and recovery to the people and economy of the U.S. This program turned out to be very successful and helped to lift the U.S. out of the Great Depression.  It put people back to work and improved U.S. economy.  It gave people hope for the future.  Some of the programs are still in effect today.